


Before Everything Went Down

by nomjoon



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Anders Week 2016, Anders's Father, Anders's real name is Frederick, Gen, Young Anders, little anders has his first contact with a mage and is told mages are bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6757009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nomjoon/pseuds/nomjoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Anders's Week 2016.</p>
<p>«Today’s Theme:<br/>“A world where every mage can learn to use their gifts and still return home at night. Where no mother ever need hide her child… or lose him to the fear of his neighbors.”<br/>Go back before Justice, before the Joining, before the year of Solitary. This is Young Anders Day. What was life like with his family before his magic? Did he find a mentor in the Circle? What knowledge did teenage Anders bestow upon his peers?»<br/>-<br/>Upon returning from a long day with his friends, seven year old Anders is met by the sight of a weak, miserable man. He was just trying to help, but apparently his father has other opinions about what a man dressed in old clothes, dying of hunger is solely based on whether said man has magic running trough his veins or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before Everything Went Down

**Author's Note:**

> It’s Ander’s week, and ever since I found out that one of the days was dedicated to young Anders, this idea kept plaguing my mind. I wanted to write something with little Anders being happy and walking back from a zippy day with his friends, but also wanted to play around with how his first encounter with a mage went. Or how he felt once he was basically told that mages are the scum of Thedas. So this was born!  
> Also, “Anders” only starts to be Anders’s name once the boy actually goes to the Circle, and since this is when he was still a child… I named him something else. I named him Frederick, in honour to a headcanon I once saw here at Tumblr and grew very fond of.  
> Enjoy this “little” piece.

Little feet tottered by the narrow, seemingly endless river as the low sun of afternoon tainted the water in orange and red, the clouds above as warm in colour as the warm air of Summer. It was getting late. His far too big amber eyes glowed with happiness as birds chirped above, flying back to their nest, while his short strawberry blond hair glued to his face with sweat. He smiled and walked faster, almost stumbling on a few rocks as he went.

He was just walking back home from a beautiful, zippy day with all the children from the village. One of them, Julian, had brought a wooden sword and all of them decided to play as warriors, rogues and mages. Some kids ran home to pick the paper shelters they had made the previous Wednesday; some made much more fragile swords and blades from materials ranging from wood to ragged cloth wrapped around questionable objects; others ran to grab sticks and pretend they were throwing spells. The adults disliked this, and so the "staffs" were banned from the game, switched to little bows made of rope and flexible branches.

All in all, it was an amusing day. Maybe one day Frederick would grow to be a powerful warrior, fighting for justice and saving damsels in distress... Or kitties in danger. He would fight as well as he did on the game, surpassing his enemies and fighting for a good cause.

He giggled. Yeah, that sounded good.

He was almost reaching his house when a voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"My boy, please, please help me..." It was a rough, dry voice.

Frederick stopped death on his tracks and looked to the side, brows furrowing as he tilted his head at the man sitting on the floor. His back was against one of the trees, only his hand visible from under the dark robes and cape which covered his body.

"Please, I only ask for water and bread..." The man mumbled, hand rising to Frederick "Please my child."

Frederick looked down at the belt around his hips. He had a little bit of water with him, but food? Mother didn't let him carry that around. He was also a little thirsty, but something on his gut made him forget that and walk to the man slowly. The water of the river was contaminated, and between waiting five more minutes and drinking at home or leaving this man to get himself poisoned if he even thought about turning to the river for water, his choice was pretty clear.

Actually, it wasn’t a choice. It was a duty.

"I only have a little bit of water, is that okay?"

The man looked up at him, the cloth around his face falling a little bit and showing his bright blue, tired eyes. He looked both surprised and hopeful, lowering the robes a little so that his mouth was visible. His lips were bruised and a large, purple mark covered his left cheek. He looked miserable, beard starting to grow far too much and wrinkles forming on his forehead.

"Oh yes, it's more than enough!" He raised his hand higher, shakily taking the bottle the boy gave him and bringing it to his face "Thank you-" he took five large gulps before the bottle went empty "Thank you!"

Frederick felt pride rise on his chest. Just seven years into this world and he had already made his first, honourable mission, the joy of making this man happy and a little bit less thirsty filling him with contentment. Add helping the poor and curing the sick to his list of what to do once you become the greatest warrior in Thedas.

The man was saying his thanks, clearly pleased with the little he was given. His voice was high and filled with broken happiness... That is, until he handed the bottle back to Frederick and accidentally brushed his fingers against the boy's wrist. Frederick felt something going up his veins, a pulse, leaving butterflies on his stomach and his skin on fire. It didn’t make sense, and he frowned. The man pulled back, a sudden sadness felling his eyes as he looked up at Frederick.

"Is something wrong, messere?" Frederick asked, confused.

"You have it too." He got up, staring down at him "You’re in dan-“

"Frederick!" His father screamed. Both the boy and the man snapped their heads in his direction, just in time to see the man looking horrified "Get away from my son!"  


It all went too fast then. His father ran to him, the man ran away, the empty bottle fell on the ground. Between shouts and silent apologies, the man was gone, and his father came back fuming. The tingling sensation was long gone, but for some reason Frederick felt the need to wrap his left hand around his right wrist, as if hiding the evidence of some horrible crime. Whatever that feeling was, he just knew his father wouldn’t like it.

"Did he touch you?!" His father half shout, kneeling to stare at him on eye level.

Frederick shook his head, wide eyed. It was a lie, but he worried what might happen if he told the truth.

"Thank the Maker, I don't want you to be corrupted by them." His father got up and offered him a hand, which Frederick shakily took, almost sighing in relief when he let go of his wrist and saw it was as normal as it always had been.

"What did he do?" Frederick asked innocently.

His father looked down at him, stern, the way he looked when Frederick was about to be schooled.

"He's a mage, and probably a runaway one at that. His kind wasn’t made to walk between us. They are dangerous creatures, who make pacts with demons and resource to blood magic when things get hard."

Frederick frowned. That couldn't be true. The man looked nothing like a demon-worshiper who would cut himself for more power. And he looked weak, unhealthy. Not dangerous or insane.

"Aren't mages like you and I? But with magic?" Frederick asked. His father stared at him in ire before tugging at his hand, beginning to walk.

"People?! They would be, if they knew how to control their powers! That's what the Circle is for, to keep them in line! To teach them how to keep their curse only for themselves! They are a sin, Frederick, a sin! If you see one of them again, run away. Run away as fast as you can. Before they turn you into an abomination."

Frederick thought about the stories he heard at the village. Awful stories about what the Templars did at the Circle, or what the mages were capable of. He remembered Julian, whose mother was a mage, telling the atrocities those armoured man did to keep mages ‘in line’. However, he said nothing. His father was angry, and he didn't want to play with fire.

Instead, he turned forward with a determined glance.

He would fight for justice; save damsels in distress and kitties in danger; he would cure the sick and help the poor; he would show the world mages are nothing like what the Circle makes them out to be.

He would make that old man who he gave water to happy.


End file.
